Biohazard 1 Full Prototypes

[Keiji Dragon]

I don't even think there is full Japanese VA for it, i think they either temp'd a few pieces and then decided it didn't feel right to have American characters with Japanese voices, or decided that from the start and created a few lines as a bonus for the Symphony CD.

No no no. No no no, no no, no no.

They did. They did a full Japanese voice track early on before English voices were recorded. This was quoted by Shinji Mikami in a pre-order promotional booklet that came with Japanese Sega Saturn release ("We also recorded Japanese voices (for the game), not just English ones. They were discarded because they were really lame." (英語だけでなくじつは日本語のボイズ収録も行なった。　カッコ悪かったのでボツに。)). Former Sound Designer Hideaki Utsumi had confirmed to me on Twitter as such a couple of years ago. Clips of the Intro and and voiced Endings were included in the Japanese Complete Disc of Resident Evil:DC:DSV, and Early JP samples exist in the earliest prototype versions of the game, as you know.

This may have been the Capcom who was the master craftsman of this era of video games, but you don't put that much effort into something as trivial as this, such as re-recording a few scenes into another language that only few buyers will have access to. That would also mean that the Resident Evil 1.5 clips that feature the different voice actors, which are also featured in Complete Disc, were fabricated just for that particular release.

My RE1 video.

There's actually a lot more info available about this little piece of trivia than the video let's on since the time it was uploaded. I've really gotta update this video at some point. Should I?

[Ketsui]

There's actually a lot more info available about this little piece of trivia than the video let's on since the time it was uploaded. I've really gotta update this video at some point. Should I?

Yup!
That would be fantastic :D
Ah i hope you will finish your documentary about 1.5 too ;)

[geluda]

No no no. No no no, no no, no no.

They did. They did a full Japanese voice track early on before English voices were recorded. This was quoted by Shinji Mikami in a pre-order promotional booklet that came with Japanese Sega Saturn release ("We also recorded Japanese voices (for the game), not just English ones. They were discarded because they were really lame." (英語だけでなくじつは日本語のボイズ収録も行なった。　カッコ悪かったのでボツに。)). Former Sound Designer Hideaki Utsumi had confirmed to me on Twitter as such a couple of years ago. Clips of the Intro and and voiced Endings were included in the Japanese Complete Disc of Resident Evil:DC:DSV, and Early JP samples exist in the earliest prototype versions of the game, as you know.

This may have been the Capcom who was the master craftsman of this era of video games, but you don't put that much effort into something as trivial as this, such as re-recording a few scenes into another language that only few buyers will have access to. That would also mean that the Resident Evil 1.5 clips that feature the different voice actors, which are also featured in Complete Disc, were fabricated just for that particular release.

There's actually a lot more info available about this little piece of trivia than the video let's on since the time it was uploaded. I've really gotta update this video at some point. Should I?

That's interesting. So did they do the two tracks side by side? At least from the 04-10-1995 alpha build they seemed quite set on using English voice acting, or perhaps they were just experimenting at this point? Perhaps this was one of the purposes of this build, to get people's feedback on the English voice tracks? It surprises me that they'd do the whole script in both English and Japanese, it shows they really weren't sure on which direction they were going in the alpha stages of development.

[veganx]

Both alpha ends with the giant snake and to be continued . And "the guy" who made the walkthrough it's me :)

Lol :))

Nice, is always awesome to get back to the mansion. RE1 is by far the most nostalgic.

[geluda]

Can anyone make any sense of these text strings? I encountered them when messing around with the jump feature and interrupting cutscenes. They appear to be error messages but they could just be garbled strings of text. I used the freeze frame feature to pause the game so you can read them. Strangely one of them says "BH" which at least to me references "Biohazard" so at least the first message seems to be more than simply random text, but who knows.

[djandy76]

Hi geluda,

Interesting clip. I thought it could be some sort of debug-reference code at first, with the numbers representing either graphic or audio elements, but the inclusion of random pieces of Japanese actually makes it look more like garbled text. Just in case you come across any more though, here are the two from the clip with romanised versions of the Japanese parts:

C54ぃ38リBHル GラcZ :リ
C54[i]38[ri]BH[ru] G[ra]cZ :[ri]

どj H joj Hり
[do]H joj H[ri]

Cheers!

[rewak]

Former Sound Designer Hideaki Utsumi had confirmed to me on Twitter as such a couple of years ago.

Huh, you learn something new every day! I had read the interview with Mikami before, so i figured with the conclusion and the lack of appearances meant they only did a few test scenes in Japanese rather than the whole game. With all the re-releases of the first game it would have been nice to have had the option included just for something new.

[geluda]

Hi geluda,

Interesting clip. I thought it could be some sort of debug-reference code at first, with the numbers representing either graphic or audio elements, but the inclusion of random pieces of Japanese actually makes it look more like garbled text. Just in case you come across any more though, here are the two from the clip with romanised versions of the Japanese parts:

C54ぃ38リBHル GラcZ :リ
C54[i]38[ri]BH[ru] G[ra]cZ :[ri]

どj H joj Hり
[do]H joj H[ri]

Cheers!

Thanks for the info! Will probably have a go and see if I can come across more, although yeah it's likely it's just some random text.

[AleffCorrea]

Where is this video from??? I remember the goddamn weird japanese soundtrack!

EDIT: Is it from Street Fighter Zero for PSX?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G78z87h0ui4

[djandy76]

>Where is this video from??? I remember the goddamn weird japanese soundtrack!

I can't be sure if it's the only place where that particular video turned up, but I remember seeing it was included in my copy of Street Fighter Zero for PS1.

[RedRonin]

BTW, I wonder if the full music for the characters introduction in the intro video was ever released. There are some lyrics but in the video is edited, using different parts of it for each character..

"I've got a shotgun!".. ah, the corny music and lyrics of the 90's.. good old times! Sad to see this industry turning into a profit behemoth, formed mostly by FPSes a la Michael Bay and casual (disposable, I'd say) mobile games.


Where's the creativity and quirkiness nowadays?! Even the soundtracks are being taken too seriously - this "hollywoodism" is spoiling all the fun in gaming, IMHO... ;(

[Kushami]

That song's called Icy Gaze, though the version in the game is pretty different from the album version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQk53jFSA-g

The most recognizable part is near the end, and stuff like 'I got a shotgun!' isn't in the game version.

[Carnivol]

Where's the creativity and quirkiness nowadays?! Even the soundtracks are being taken too seriously - this "hollywoodism" is spoiling all the fun in gaming, IMHO... ;(

Deadly Premonition is the answer to everything.